Victorian Plumbing
by midnightread
Summary: Clara's having a bad morning and then a surprise at work makes it even better.


**So I wrote this a while ago, long hand, and have only now just got around to typing it up. I wrote it before the new season started so had no idea what type of teacher Clara was but I thought history would be the best fit. **

**This is the first time I've written anything for Doctor Who so I hope you like it. **

The day hadn't started well for Clara. First her alarm hadn't gone off for some reason, but thankfully she'd woken herself up twenty minutes later. Added to that the keys for her bike had vanished, only to be found down the back of the sofa, Clara had no idea how they'd gotten there.

All that meant that Clara was running late. If there was no traffic, which was unlikely at rush hour, she'd be able to make it just in time to beat her students to the classroom.

"Where's a time machine when you need one," she muttered to herself as she began to weave her way through the traffic.

Even though she drove as fast as she was able to Clara was still almost twenty minutes late when she eventually parked her bike.

She jumped off and then made her way towards her classroom, pulling off her helmet and fixing her hair as she did so.

As Clara approached her classroom she expected to see her class lined up outside, waiting for her to unlock the door. she was surprised then when she corridor was empty, but she thought nothing of it, just assuming that one of the other teachers she'd text to say she was running a little late, had let them all in.

"Sorry I'm late," she announced as she opened the door.

Clara then stopped dead in her tracks as she took in what was going on in her classroom.

The tables had all been pushed to the edges of the room and her class were all sat cross legged in a circle staring intently at the man who was currently sat in the middle, gesturing wildly, as he told them all about the Victorian age, and how bad the toilets had been.

Clara stood for a moment. While some of the students had seen her, and were now glancing between her and the man, the man had yet to notice her arrival.

She cleared her throat, loudly, and the Doctor snapped around to look at her.

"Clara," he exclaimed as he stood and then proceeded to vault over the line of children that separated the two of them.

"Doctor," Clara responded as her eyebrows began to raise, "And what are you doing here?"

"You're angry," the Doctor noted instead of answering her question.

"And what gave that away?" Clara asked, her voice dropping lower so that the kids couldn't hear what she was saying.

"Did I forget something?" the Doctor asked. "Oh I know," he then said, "I've messed up on the timings again haven't I?"

"Yeah," Clara hissed, "Three months, that's how late you are."

"Sorry," the Doctor said, trying to mollify her.

"Is he your boyfriend miss?" one of the boys shouted.

Clara realised that all of them were now sitting on the floor, watching her and the Doctor. "No he's not," Clara replied, "Now why don't you put the classroom back together, I'll be just outside."

The kids all got to their feet and started to move everything back into place, although most were still watching the Doctor and Clara closely.

"You," Clara said, turning back to the Doctor, "Outside."

"But…" the Doctor started to say, but then stopped when he realised that Clara wasn't messing around. He adjusted his bow tie then went out of the door. Clara looked around the room once more before she followed him out.

"Why are you here Doctor?" Clara asked, keeping her voice low since the door to the classroom was still open a crack so that Clara could hear her class. "Three months I've been waiting to hear from you and then you appear in the middle of my class, teaching them about Victorian plumbing, or the lack thereof."

"You know as well as I do how bad that plumbing was," the Doctor retorted. Clara narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm sorry," the Doctor said, "I honestly thought it had only been two weeks, three tops, since we'd last seen each other. The TARDIS is a little unreliable, which you also know."

"I wouldn't let her hear you say that," Clara muttered, "You never know what she might do."

The Doctor laughed. Clara laughed too before saying, "Well you need to go, I've got a class to teach."

The Doctor nodded. "Well I'll leave you with the Victorian plumbing," he said, "One of the kids said that was what you were doing today so I thought I'd start you off."

"I'm sure that they only said Victorians," Clara muttered, "But oh well."

"Well I didn't think you wanted me to tell them about the pre-historic lizard who lives there with her wife," the Doctor responded.

"And you'd be right," Clara agreed, "It's bad enough that you're here without them all thinking that you belong in the loony bin. How did you even get in here without someone questioning you?"

"Physic paper does have it merits," the Doctor answered, "I said that I was a historian that you had brought in to help with your class."

"You and your psychic paper," Clara muttered, "Now go, I've got a class to teach and I'm sure you've got a TARDIS to tinker with."

The Doctor nodded and headed off down the hall.

"I'll see you later right?" Clara called after him, "You're not going to go and disappear on me again are you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," the Doctor called back.

Clara shook her head then headed back into the classroom.

"Well done," she said when she saw that the tables were all back in place and everyone was sitting down, "Now how about we make a start on the lesson I actually had planned."

"What about the toilets?" one of the students called out.

"They were terrible," Clara informed the room, "Do you really need to know anymore?"

She could tell from their faces that they did want to know but otherwise stayed silent.

There was a knock at the door and everyone turned to look at it.

Clara sighed when she saw who it was through the window. "Come in Doctor," she called out.

A sheepish looking Doctor opened the door and walked over to Clara.

"You're going to need this," he said, holding up a piece of paper.

Clara took it from him and saw that there was an address written on it. "You better be there," she muttered as she placed it on the desk.

"Don't worry," he replied, "I'm sure I can stick around for long enough."

Clara punched him in the arm. "You better."

The Doctor headed back towards the door and then left.

"What kind of a name is Doctor?" one of the kids called out, "Doctor Who?"

Clara laughed. "Now that is a question for another time."

She then turned back to the board and began to write up what she was going to go over in the lesson.

By the time the school day finished Clara was more than ready to go and see the Doctor.

She grabbed her helmet and the address from the desk and then headed down to her bike.

It didn't take her long to see the blue box, whose doors opened as she approached. As soon as she was inside she jumped off her bike and clicked her fingers to shut the door, and then turned to look at the Doctor.

"Don't you ever do that again," she ordered, "They didn't stop asking questions about you and Victorian plumbing all lesson."

"Sorry," the Doctor replied, "I was trying to be helpful."

Clara shook her head then strode up to the Doctor and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, "I missed you," she muttered as he hugged her back.

When they parted the Doctor smiled before asking, "So where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere but the Victorian times," Clara informed him, "I've heard enough about their plumbing today to not want to experience it."

The Doctor laughed as he threw the lever and the two grabbed hold of the console as they headed off on another adventure.


End file.
